IS IT TRUE? February 6, 2012

IS IT TRUE that the State of Indiana and the City of Indianapolis deserves to stand up and take bow for the world class way that the Super Bowl was hosted?…that our bet is that the first northern city to host the Super Bowl will be getting a regular visit much like cities like Phoenix, Miami, and San Diego always do?…that from the friendly hosts and hostesses to the zip lines this was a class act?…that this was also a result of years of planning and execution that cost billions of dollars?…that one of the feature hotels that was built in downtown Indianapolis that was packed to the rafters for the Super Bowl was the 2,000 room J. W. Marriott that was the work of a professional hospitality company called White Lodging?…that while Fort Wayne and Indianapolis were able to make deals with White Lodging to get the hotels they needed Evansville and the previous Mayor were mired up in the old south good old boy politics of crony capitalism and have exactly 2 failed deals, a hope and a prayer, and a big empty lot?…that we would like to introduce a new phrase of “what’s it gonna be Evansville, world class or fish for bass”?…that by the start of the 2012 Evansville City Council’s antics that world class is not going to happen soon and the bass may be safe too because these folks don’t know how to bait a hook?

IS IT TRUE that Evansville’s long term hate affair with Madonna who disrespected the River City back in the early 1990’s when she was in jail here for 3 months while filming “A League of Their Own” seems to have ended?…that most people are no longer holding Madonna in low esteem for comparing Evansville to the eastern European city of Prague that at the time was under communist rule and was dealing with third world challenges like crumbling infrastructure?…that something in Madonna’s comparison must have rallied the leaders of Prague to task because today Prague is a humming international destination that got rid of its old boss communist system?…that somewhere in Prague someone stood up and said “Damn that Madonna, we are not like Evansville. We need to change and we need to change now”?…that over the last 20 years Prague has changed dramatically for the better and that Evansville is still pretty much the same with a new building or two?…that today it would be a big compliment for Madonna or anyone else to say that Evansville is like being in Prague?…if we could get her to say that, our tourism numbers would soar?…that there would be no place to stay in downtown Evansville, but there was a decent place called the Executive Inn when the filming was going on?

IS IT TRUE that Madonna’s movie, “A League of Their Own” has become a source of pride for Evansville and SW Indiana with reminders all over the place from the entry to the airport to the Racine Bells logos at Bosse Field?…that Madonna gave us something to latch onto that has given us all a bit of pride?…that speaking of filming there will be a documentary film crew in town for about a month to do a film on the life of a Castle High graduate who made it big in the entertainment industry?…that film crew has their office in the same building as this writer does here in Palm Springs and that I am coaching them on restaurants to frequent and things to do doing their stay in Evansville?…that the local celebrity is none other than Michael Rosenbaum best known for Smallville who is a proud Castle Knight?…I will warn my friends on the film crew privately soon so they can meet them and maybe have some fun as extras?